Various interlocking construction-component systems are available. Typical existing systems include components such as beams, panels or blocks that have interlockable male and female features defined along engagement surfaces allowing the components to be removably connected to one another in one or more relative configurations. For example, different types of lap and splice joints or notches may be used for assembling beams, and finger or dovetail joints may be used for interconnection of panels. However, such interconnecting structures have numerous constraints and other limitation and structural weaknesses. For example, a problem for tongue-in-groove joints is that side loading stress is concentrated in small areas around tongues, and the tongues or grooves may be deformed or even broken due large side loading. Such joints also tend to separate under vertical loading, because of small area of surface of tongues.
Particularly popular interlocking block systems are available as LEGO® playsets having rectangular blocks that engage each other in layers to form various desired shapes and structures. A typical LEGO® block has an array of studs protruding from a top side and array of receptacles, defined along a bottom side, sized to snugly receive the studs of other blocks in mating fashion. LEGO® blocks permit interlocking engagement between blocks in adjacent layers, but do not provide, for example, for side-by-side engagement between blocks within any particular layer.
PixelBlocks®, as illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,314 to Bora, provide interlocking engagements between lateral faces orthogonal to the top and bottom faces of adjacent blocks. A lateral sliding dovetail male feature projects from a first lateral face and a corresponding lateral sliding dovetail female feature is recessed into a second lateral face. The lateral male and female features of one block engage respectively with female and male lateral features of another block to achieve interlocking connection of the blocks within a layer of blocks. The geometries are different for top, bottom and lateral faces, and so PixelBlocks® do not appear to permit engagement between arbitrary faces.
Stickle Bricks™ of Hasbro Inc. are interlocking blocks having brushes of flexible fingers on one or more faces of each block. The faces of two Stickle Bricks™ can be interlocked, but opposite faces of bricks are different. For example, top and bottom faces have different numbers of fingers, and, correspondingly, bricks can't be mated by top faces without displacement. Also some side faces can't be mated at all. Due to the long fingers and the small area of contact, the interconnections are unsteady and not precise, assembled constructions have large holes, and the pattern of fingers is often broken at edges and joints. Thus, Stickle Bricks are limited to use for simple construction with only a few elements and for toddlers.
Another example of interlocking blocks is one-sided Endura-Form™ panels that combine explicit tongues and grooves in one face of the panels. Compared to Stickle Bricks, Endura-Form™ panels may provide stronger connections without displacement, but require precise alignment of features for interlocking. And sides of Endura-Forms™ that do not include the tongues and grooves cannot mate with another side. The geometry of the panels limited their usage for simple flat assemblies, such as roads and pads. And the panels are susceptible to integrity issue related to side loading of tongue-and-groove connections.
Accordingly, improved spatial components are desired to provide uniform mating surfaces, and simple and variable attachment and detachment along various relative directions, in various relative orientations, and upon various sides for assembling arbitrary spatial structures.